Classical rabbinic sources describe the height and width of the Temple courtyard gates in cubits. These measurements appear consistently across the Talmud and later Jewish legal codes, providing a foundational understanding of the Temple's architectural proportions.
כׇּל הַפְּתָחִים שֶׁהָיוּ שָׁם גּוֹבְהָן עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה וְרוֹחְבָּן עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת
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What the sources say
The standard measure for all the gates in the Temple precinct is stated explicitly in Mishnah Middot 2:3: every entrance was twenty cubits tall and ten cubits wide — with the sole exception of the Ulam (the antechamber).
The Gemara (Yoma 16a) cites this same Mishnah directly, confirming that all entrances were twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide, and the Rambam (Mishneh Torah, The Chosen Temple 5:2) codifies the identical figures: width of every gate ten cubits, height twenty.
The entrance to the Heikhal itself shared those proportions — twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide — while the Ulam's opening was exceptional at forty cubits high and twenty cubits wide, as recorded in the Gemara (Eruvin 2a).
משנה מדות ב׳:ג׳
Mishnah Middot 2:3
Describes the dimensions of the Temple courtyard gates, including their height and width, in terms of cubits. This is a foundational source for converting the gate measurements into feet.
כָּל הַפְּתָחִים וְהַשְּׁעָרִים שֶׁהָיוּ שָׁם, גָּבְהָן עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה, וְרָחְבָּן עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת, חוּץ מִשֶּׁל אוּלָם.
recovered from “Talmud Yoma 16a”
יומא ט״ז א — ד"ה וּתְנַן
Yoma 16a:5
The passage describes the dimensions and purposes of the Women's Courtyard and the gates of the Temple, stating that all the gates there were twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide.
וּתְנַן: כׇּל הַפְּתָחִים שֶׁהָיוּ שָׁם גּוֹבְהָן עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה וְרוֹחְבָּן עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת. וּתְנַן: לִפְנִים מִמֶּנּוּ סוֹרֵג. וּתְנַן: לִפְנִים מִמֶּנּוּ הַחֵיל עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת, וּשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה מַעֲלוֹת הָיוּ שָׁם, רוּם מַעֲלָה חֲצִי אַמָּה וְשִׁילְחָהּ חֲצִי אַמָּה.
The Gemara seeks the opinion according to which this would be feasible. And we learned in a mishna: All the entrances that were there in the Temple were twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide. And we learned in a different mishna describing the layout of the Temple: Inside the eastern wall of the Temple Mount was a latticed gate. And we learned in a different mishna: Inside the latticed gate was the rampart, which was an elevated area ten cubits wide. In that area there were twelve stairs; each stair was half a cubit high and half a cubit deep, for a total ascent of six cubits.
Eruvin 2a:7
The opening of the Heichal had a height of twenty cubits and a width of ten cubits, while the opening of the Ulam had a height of forty cubits and a width of twenty cubits.
פִּתְחוֹ שֶׁל הֵיכָל גׇּבְהוֹ עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה וְרׇחְבּוֹ עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת, וְשֶׁל אוּלָם גׇּבְהוֹ אַרְבָּעִים אַמָּה וְרׇחְבּוֹ עֶשְׂרִים אַמּוֹת.
Mishneh Torah, The Chosen Temple 5:2
Each gate was ten cubits wide and twenty cubits high.
רֹחַב כָּל שַׁעַר עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת וְגָבְהוֹ עֶשְׂרִים.
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